setting up a preseed file to do automatic installation on a server
Scott Berry
scottbb1973 at gmail.com
Sun Oct 24 15:33:34 UTC 2010
Hello there,
I am setting up a server machine. I want Ubuntu to do an automatic
install. I have worked on a preseed file. This one hasn't had it's
name changed from example.preseed.txt yet cause I don't think everything
is right. I would like to have some one look this over and tell me what
I might need to change. I am not really sure about the kernel package
to install, the apt repositories to use, and making sure that the user
and root accounts are both made because I don't usually use sudo I
prefer to su in to my Root account. Thanks for the help. This is set
up for Debian Lenny but I'll change the name when I have everything set
correctly.
#### Contents of the preconfiguration file (for lenny)
### Localization
# Locale sets language and country.
d-i ubuntu-installer/locale string en_US
# Keyboard selection.
#d-i console-tools/archs select at
d-i console-keymaps-at/keymap select us
# Example for a different keyboard architecture
#d-i console-keymaps-usb/keymap select mac-usb-us
### Network configuration
# netcfg will choose an interface that has link if possible. This makes
it
# skip displaying a list if there is more than one interface.
d-i netcfg/choose_interface select auto
# To pick a particular interface instead:
#d-i netcfg/choose_interface select eth1
# If you have a slow dhcp server and the installer times out waiting for
# it, this might be useful.
#d-i netcfg/dhcp_timeout string 60
# If you prefer to configure the network manually, uncomment this line
and
# the static network configuration below.
#d-i netcfg/disable_dhcp boolean true
# If you want the preconfiguration file to work on systems both with and
# without a dhcp server, uncomment these lines and the static network
# configuration below.
#d-i netcfg/dhcp_failed note
#d-i netcfg/dhcp_options select Configure network manually
# Static network configuration.
d-i netcfg/get_nameservers string 192.168.1.1
d-i netcfg/get_ipaddress string 192.168.1.50
d-i netcfg/get_netmask string 255.255.255.0
d-i netcfg/get_gateway string 192.168.1.1
d-i netcfg/confirm_static boolean true
# Any hostname and domain names assigned from dhcp take precedence over
# values set here. However, setting the values still prevents the
questions
# from being shown, even if values come from dhcp.
d-i netcfg/get_hostname string unassigned-hostname
d-i netcfg/get_domain string unassigned-domain
# Disable that annoying WEP key dialog.
d-i netcfg/wireless_wep string
# The wacky dhcp hostname that some ISPs use as a password of sorts.
#d-i netcfg/dhcp_hostname string radish
# If non-free firmware is needed for the network or other hardware, you
can
# configure the installer to always try to load it, without prompting.
Or
# change to false to disable asking.
d-i hw-detect/load_firmware boolean true
### Network console
# Use the following settings if you wish to make use of the
network-console
# component for remote installation over SSH. This only makes sense if
you
# intend to perform the remainder of the installation manually.
#d-i anna/choose_modules string network-console
#d-i network-console/password password r00tme
#d-i network-console/password-again password r00tme
### Mirror settings
# If you select ftp, the mirror/country string does not need to be set.
#d-i mirror/protocol string ftp
d-i mirror/country string manual
d-i mirror/http/hostname string http.us.archive.ubuntu.com
d-i mirror/http/directory string /ubuntu
d-i mirror/http/proxy string
# Suite to install.
#d-i mirror/suite string main
# Suite to use for loading installer components (optional).
d-i mirror/udeb/suite string main
### Clock and time zone setup
# Controls whether or not the hardware clock is set to UTC.
d-i clock-setup/utc boolean true
# You may set this to any valid setting for $TZ; see the contents of
# /usr/share/zoneinfo/ for valid values.
d-i time/zone string US/Central
# Controls whether to use NTP to set the clock during the install
d-i clock-setup/ntp boolean true
# NTP server to use. The default is almost always fine here.
d-i clock-setup/ntp-server string ntp.ubuntu.com
### Partitioning
# If the system has free space you can choose to only partition that
space.
#d-i partman-auto/init_automatically_partition select biggest_free
# Alternatively, you can specify a disk to partition. The device name
must
# be given in traditional non-devfs format.
# Note: A disk must be specified, unless the system has only one disk.
# For example, to use the first SCSI/SATA hard disk:
d-i partman-auto/disk string /dev/sda
# In addition, you'll need to specify the method to use.
# The presently available methods are: "regular", "lvm" and "crypto"
d-i partman-auto/method string lvm
# If one of the disks that are going to be automatically partitioned
# contains an old LVM configuration, the user will normally receive a
# warning. This can be preseeded away...
d-i partman-lvm/device_remove_lvm boolean true
# The same applies to pre-existing software RAID array:
d-i partman-md/device_remove_md boolean true
# And the same goes for the confirmation to write the lvm partitions.
d-i partman-lvm/confirm boolean true
# You can choose one of the three predefined partitioning recipes:
# - atomic: all files in one partition
# - home: separate /home partition
# - multi: separate /home, /usr, /var, and /tmp partitions
d-i partman-auto/choose_recipe select home
# Or provide a recipe of your own...
# The recipe format is documented in the file
devel/partman-auto-recipe.txt.
# If you have a way to get a recipe file into the d-i environment, you
can
# just point at it.
#d-i partman-auto/expert_recipe_file string /hd-media/recipe
# If not, you can put an entire recipe into the preconfiguration file in
one
# (logical) line. This example creates a small /boot partition, suitable
# swap, and uses the rest of the space for the root partition:
#d-i partman-auto/expert_recipe string \
# boot-root :: \
# 40 50 100 ext3 \
# $primary{ } $bootable{ } \
# method{ format } format{ } \
# use_filesystem{ } filesystem{ ext3 } \
# mountpoint{ /boot } \
# . \
# 500 10000 1000000000 ext3 \
# method{ format } format{ } \
# use_filesystem{ } filesystem{ ext3 } \
# mountpoint{ / } \
# . \
# 64 512 300% linux-swap \
# method{ swap } format{ } \
# .
# This makes partman automatically partition without confirmation,
provided
# that you told it what to do using one of the methods above.
d-i partman/confirm_write_new_label boolean true
d-i partman/choose_partition select finish
d-i partman/confirm boolean true
### Base system installation
# Select the initramfs generator used to generate the initrd for 2.6
kernels.
#d-i base-installer/kernel/linux/initramfs-generators string yaird
# The kernel image (meta) package to be installed; "none" can be used if
no
# kernel is to be installed.
d-i base-installer/kernel/image string linux-image-2.6-586
### Account setup
# Skip creation of a root account (normal user account will be able to
# use sudo).
d-i passwd/root-login boolean true
# Alternatively, to skip creation of a normal user account.
#d-i passwd/make-user boolean false
# Root password, either in clear text
#d-i passwd/root-password password nerdietech
#d-i passwd/root-password-again password nerdietech
# or encrypted using an MD5 hash.
#d-i passwd/root-password-crypted password [MD5 hash]
# To create a normal user account.
d-i passwd/user-fullname string Scott Berry
#d-i passwd/username string Scott
# Normal user's password, either in clear text
#d-i passwd/user-password nerdie1tech
#d-i passwd/user-password-again nerdie1tech
# or encrypted using an MD5 hash.
#d-i passwd/user-password-crypted password [MD5 hash]
# Create the first user with the specified UID instead of the default.
#d-i passwd/user-uid string 1010
# The user account will be added to some standard initial groups. To
# override that, use this.
#d-i passwd/user-default-groups string audio cdrom video
### Apt setup
# You can choose to install non-free and contrib software.
d-i apt-setup/non-free boolean true
d-i apt-setup/contrib boolean true
# Uncomment this if you don't want to use a network mirror.
#d-i apt-setup/use_mirror boolean false
# Select which update services to use; define the mirrors to be used.
# Values shown below are the normal defaults.
#d-i apt-setup/services-select multiselect security, volatile
#d-i apt-setup/security_host string security.debian.org
#d-i apt-setup/volatile_host string volatile.debian.org
# Additional repositories, local[0-9] available
#d-i apt-setup/local0/repository string \
# http://local.server/debian stable main
#d-i apt-setup/local0/comment string local server
# Enable deb-src lines
#d-i apt-setup/local0/source boolean true
# URL to the public key of the local repository; you must provide a key
or
# apt will complain about the unauthenticated repository and so the
# sources.list line will be left commented out
#d-i apt-setup/local0/key string http://local.server/key
# By default the installer requires that repositories be authenticated
# using a known gpg key. This setting can be used to disable that
# authentication. Warning: Insecure, not recommended.
#d-i debian-installer/allow_unauthenticated string true
### Package selection
#tasksel tasksel/first multiselect standard, web-server
# If the desktop task is selected, install the kde and xfce desktops
# instead of the default gnome desktop.
#tasksel tasksel/desktop multiselect kde, xfce
# Individual additional packages to install
#d-i pkgsel/include string openssh-server build-essential
# Whether to upgrade packages after debootstrap.
# Allowed values: none, safe-upgrade, full-upgrade
#d-i pkgsel/upgrade select none
# Some versions of the installer can report back on what software you
have
# installed, and what software you use. The default is not to report
back,
# but sending reports helps the project determine what software is most
# popular and include it on CDs.
#popularity-contest popularity-contest/participate boolean false
### Boot loader installation
# Grub is the default boot loader (for x86). If you want lilo installed
# instead, uncomment this:
#d-i grub-installer/skip boolean true
# To also skip installing lilo, and install no bootloader, uncomment
this
# too:
#d-i lilo-installer/skip boolean true
# This is fairly safe to set, it makes grub install automatically to the
MBR
# if no other operating system is detected on the machine.
d-i grub-installer/only_debian boolean true
# This one makes grub-installer install to the MBR if it also finds some
other
# OS, which is less safe as it might not be able to boot that other OS.
d-i grub-installer/with_other_os boolean true
# Alternatively, if you want to install to a location other than the
mbr,
# uncomment and edit these lines:
#d-i grub-installer/only_debian boolean false
#d-i grub-installer/with_other_os boolean false
#d-i grub-installer/bootdev string (hd0,0)
# To install grub to multiple disks:
#d-i grub-installer/bootdev string (hd0,0) (hd1,0) (hd2,0)
# Optional password for grub, either in clear text
#d-i grub-installer/password password r00tme
#d-i grub-installer/password-again password r00tme
# or encrypted using an MD5 hash, see grub-md5-crypt(8).
#d-i grub-installer/password-crypted password [MD5 hash]
### Finishing up the installation
# During installations from serial console, the regular virtual consoles
# (VT1-VT6) are normally disabled in /etc/inittab. Uncomment the next
# line to prevent this.
#d-i finish-install/keep-consoles boolean true
# Avoid that last message about the install being complete.
d-i finish-install/reboot_in_progress note
# This will prevent the installer from ejecting the CD during the
reboot,
# which is useful in some situations.
#d-i cdrom-detect/eject boolean false
# This is how to make the installer shutdown when finished, but not
# reboot into the installed system.
#d-i debian-installer/exit/halt boolean true
# This will power off the machine instead of just halting it.
#d-i debian-installer/exit/poweroff boolean true
### Preseeding other packages
# Depending on what software you choose to install, or if things go
wrong
# during the installation process, it's possible that other questions
may
# be asked. You can preseed those too, of course. To get a list of every
# possible question that could be asked during an install, do an
# installation, and then run these commands:
# debconf-get-selections --installer > file
# debconf-get-selections >> file
#### Advanced options
### Running custom commands during the installation
# d-i preseeding is inherently not secure. Nothing in the installer
checks
# for attempts at buffer overflows or other exploits of the values of a
# preconfiguration file like this one. Only use preconfiguration files
from
# trusted locations! To drive that home, and because it's generally
useful,
# here's a way to run any shell command you'd like inside the installer,
# automatically.
# This first command is run as early as possible, just after
# preseeding is read.
#d-i preseed/early_command string anna-install some-udeb
# This command is run just before the install finishes, but when there
is
# still a usable /target directory. You can chroot to /target and use it
# directly, or use the apt-install and in-target commands to easily
install
# packages and run commands in the target system.
#d-i preseed/late_command string apt-install zsh; in-target chsh
-s /bin/zsh
--
Scott Berry
Mailto: scottbb1973 at gmail.com
Have a wonderful day.
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